Nancy Marino, a distinguished professor of Spanish in the Department of Romance and Classical studies, died Sunday, according to a letter from Dean Christopher Long of the College of Arts and Letters, or CAL.
Marino died after a brief battle with cancer, according to a release from the CAL. She died with her husband by her side, according to the letter.
“Her passing is devastating to all of us on a departmental level,” Romance and Classical Studies Associate Chair Anthony Grubbs said. “On a personal level, she was my best friend at the university and she was also my mentor … I owe a lot of my career to her.”
Marino's research, focusing on medieval and Renaissance Spanish literature and poetry, has been widely published. According to her MSU biography, she has written nine books and more than 30 articles.
Marino was also the program director of the Spanish Language, Literature and Culture study abroad program in Valencia, Spain.
"She leaves a legacy of profound impact on late medieval and early renaissance Spanish literature and history and will be dearly missed by all faculty, students, and the greater MSU community," Long wrote in the letter.
Grubbs said Marino was very generous with her time and was willing to help students with any issue, academic or personal. He said he’s received hundreds of praise-filled responses following her death.
“She was one of the most generous and caring people that I’ve ever met in my life,” Grubbs said. “She was just an exemplary professor, she was an exemplary person also. She touched everybody that she came into contact with, she had a great impact on them.”
Information on memorial services will be shared on the CAL website as it becomes available, according to the letter.
“She was probably the best teacher I’ve ever met, and that is not only my opinion,” Grubbs said.
Editor's note: This article was last updated at noon, March 15 to include Grubbs' comments.
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